Paperdoll Block

LINDSAY and REBECCA

run through the

SPRINKLERS...

they ride bikes to the

5 and DIME

for penny candy!

I love the vintage bathing suit with the red embroidered trim and belt loops.

Don't you just love the scalloped, polka dot sunglasses?

I love the orange soda in the glass bottle with the green and white striped straw.  The candy was fun to embroider, especially the long piece of licorice!

That is exactly what I used to do as a child.....play in the sprinklers in the backyard and then walk or ride my bike for a few blocks to the corner candy store.  

I used to buy chocolate bars for ten and twenty five cents, and popsicles.  I especially liked string licorice.  I would buy three strings and braid them, and then eat the braid :)

Does this bring back memories for you?

Paperdoll Block

LINDSAY

goes to her

tennis lesson

THWACK!

Afterwards, she

meets 

REBECCA

for a

picnic...

This was the second block I made, and it took forever!

I will point out all the details to you...

The red skirt has box pleats, they were all hand embroidered.

The tennis racket was pretty time intensive.  The webbing is all embroidered in white, as well as the little red and white accents around the racket.

The shoes have white laces all embroidered, and the white soles around the shoes are also embroidered.

The picnic basket....do you notice that the sandwiches are appliqued, with brown embroidery around them, and the ziplock bags are embroidered.

The chocolate chip cookies are appliqued, but the chocolate chips and the little baggie and twist tie are all embroidered.

I used to belong to a tennis club down the street from where I lived when I was growing up, so this block brings back memories for me:)

Paperdoll Block

REBECCA 

goes on a 

camping trip

with her whole

family.....singing

old campfire

SONGS...

roasting hot dogs

and making

S'MORES

are her

favorite...Mmmm

I love this block, it is the first one I made.  

Look at the buttonholes on the shirt, don't they look real?

The compass was really difficult to applique, the green circle and then the off white circle, the red needle is embroidered and  N,S,E and W are drawn with permanent acid free marker.

Aren't the hiking boots cute? The eyelets, laces and scalloped souls are embroidered.

Each one of the marshmallows was appliqued, and the stick was embroidered.  That took a while!

I also really like the hot dogs in the ziplock bag :)  The hot dogs are one piece of fabric appliqued, and everything else is embroidered.

All I can say, is that this paperdoll has a really nice camping outfit :)

Unfortunately we never went camping as a family, but Rebecca and Lindsay went to girl's camp every summer and had great camping experiences there.

Paperdoll Block

LINDSAY has a birthday party

... REBECCA gives her a HULA HOOP!

There isn't quite as much embroidery in this block as there is in some of the others.  The orange ribbon around the blue present was difficult to embroider because it is all satin stitched.  I like the birthday invitation and the birthday cake the best!

Paperdoll Block

REBECCA goes to stay

at GRAMMY'S house

for two weeks....she

learns how to do

EMBROIDERY...make

YO-YO's...and to

stitch a hexagon

QUILT BLOCK...

We lived in Arkansas, and my mother wanted Rebecca to fly to Montreal to visit her for a couple of weeks.  I was just too nervous to let Rebecca fly by herself when she was only 9 years old.  Consequently, she never went by herself but still had lots of good visits with her grandmother.
Rebecca has her grandmother's drawing and painting talent :)
Isn't the little hexagon adorable?  It's a l/2" size.  The little yoyo's are the "extra small" size.  The skeins of embroidery floss is really floss, embroidered to look like real skeins!  The little embroidery of the dog was very difficult, because it was so teeny.....Don't you love the red tomato pincushion?  The pins with the different colored heads are so real looking, they are french knots.  I love the red mary jane shoes, too.  Don't they bring back memories?

Paperdoll Block

LINDSAY gets ready for her flute solo...

she likes to paint her TOENAILS while she

sits under the HAIRDRYER!

Don't the bobby pins look real, like you could reach out and pick them off the fabric?  The curlers were really hard to applique, because the pieces were so little, and every single pink pin is embroidered.  The green comb is embroidered.  The red nail polish is appliqued, and outline embroidered in gray.  I love all the detail!

 Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet designed this pattern.  

Paperdoll Block

This block reminds me of doing dishes when I was a teenager, and also when my children were given the chore assignment when they were growing up.  If I had pretty accessories like this, it may have been more enticing!

I love how the dustpan matches the apron with the velvet blue rick rack, outlined with 2 narrow little rows of yellow rick rack, all sewed on by hand, rick by rack :)  The red strainer brings back memories, but ours was always white, never a pretty red.
Each of these pieces of fabric was appliqued, using the needle turn method.  Very time consuming, but very rewarding!  Notice the bristles on the bottle cleaner?  The red embroidered lines on the broom took me a while and I was thankful when I completed them!
I love this block, it makes cleaning the kitchen fun!!!

Paperdoll block

As promised, I am featuring one of my paperdoll blocks today.

This is one of my favorites......what am I saying?  How could I ever choose a favorite paperdoll block?  They are all so adorable!

I love the apron, it looks like one my grandmother would have worn.  I have a lot of red in my kitchen so I made the mix master and the spatula red.

Look at the design on the gray fabric, it really looks like a cookie pan.  The fabric that was used for the chocolate chips has little dots on it, so it looks like chocolate chips.  On one of the blocks, I had to  satin stitch the chocolate chips!

The electrical cord on the mix master is tiny black rick rack, embroidered with white thread.

I love how the trim on the oven mitt matches the apron, and I also love the pyrex measuring cup :)  All of the little details are incredible. Each fabric piece was appliqued using the needle turn method.  

If you are new to "paperdoll block" Friday, you can look at the other paperdoll blocks here and here. 

I will feature another paperdoll block next week :)

Paperdoll blocks, continued...

I first told you about my paperdoll quilt here.

I finished another block, I just love how it turned out!

I will be posting about my paperdoll quilt every Friday.  

Hopefully that will give me the incentive to finish it.  

I have the desire, but I keep starting new projects...

Here is another block.

I grew up in St. Lambert, on the south shore of Montreal, Quebec.

I walked to Elementary School and High School every day of my life and home for lunch and back to school again.  I was like the mailman, neither rain nor snow could keep us home!  I had red   rubber boots  and a yellow raincoat (slicker) that I wore on rainy days just like this.  I remember one gift that my mother gave me on my 13th birthday was a beautiful pink ruffled umbrella :)

 Stylish rain apparel was very important to me.

I was a big fan of Nancy Drew novels, I read every one.  

I've got a really cute photo of Rebecca in St. Lambert when she was 4, holding an umbrella in the rain.  This block has a lot of meaning for me :)

Paper doll blocks

I started taking the Paper Doll quilt class from Lori Holt at Material Girls quilt shop  in the fall of 2009, with my daughter Lindsay.
I was only able to attend two or three classes because we moved to Florida.  I put this quilt on the back burner because it was a memorable and busy year for us....four grand daughters were born within seven months of each other.  I made each of them heirloom blessing gowns with matching bonnets, and flew back to Utah for each of the births.  One of them lived with us, so that was really nice!
I have been working on the blocks here and there.  The blocks are appliqued and hand embroidered.  I just finished one this past week.

Isn't it adorable?  I named the paperdolls after my two oldest girls, Rebecca and Lindsay.  They were born 16 months apart and did everything together, wore matching clothes (thanks Mom!) and even shared the same friends most of the time when they were young.
I only have three blocks to go, so I decided to complete the applique on both of them and I can just take them with me and do embroidery on the go.

This quilt will be so gorgeous when it is finished!  The border has little white pom pom trim, and each outfit the paperdolls wear and each activity they go to, are so detailed.

For instance, look at the jumprope.  It looks like rick rack with handles.

I use two strands of embroidery floss and stitch each rick and each rack, and the jumprope has dimension!

We have two road trips planned in the next month.  I hope to get a lot of embroidery done so I can show you the rest of the blocks and maybe actually finish the quilt!